Music

Valentine’s Day makes me happy. Life is a struggle so much of the time. Any day — Hallmark holiday or not — that gives everyone a chance to focus on love is a good thing. But today, with so much focus on romantic love, I’m making it my personal mission to remind you all to love yourself first. Love yourself truly, deeply. Love yourself in all your complexity, frailty, mistakes, and all the beautiful flaws that make you human. Love yourself wholly and know — KNOW — that it is truly the only thing that can make you whole.

The luminous Whitney Houston sang it best. What a voice she had. I’m sending you all much love tonight with this week’s song, chosen by me for all of you who send me your love every day.
<3
I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadows
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I'll live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all
And if, by chance, that special place
That you've been dreaming of
Leads you to a lonely place
Find your strength in love

This week’s thing I love is one of my favorite albums from the 80’s, The Cars self-titled LP.

Even after all these years, this album features some of the best music of all time. Between Let the Good Times Roll, My Best Friend’s Girl, and Moving in Stereo — to name just a few — it’s pure genius.

Love this week’s song, nominated by one of my dearest friends, Winsome. Winsome and I have been friends since fifth grade when we would sit on her canopy bed with the curtains drawn and listen to Devo and The Knack.

How fitting that she would be the person to nominate a song! Love her to death! She’s the one who taught me how to swim in the ocean and that clam chowder always tastes better on the pier after a long day of swimming.

And I have to say that I’ve never been a huge fan of Incubus, but this is very different for them. Really like it! Thanks, Winsome!

Also want to let you guys know that for tonight only there’s a promotion on Twitter to win one of the last three A TEMPTATION OF ANGELS ARCs. All you have to do is tweet with the hashtag #atemptationofangels between now and Midnight. You can enter as many times as you like, one entry for every tweet with the hashtag.

This week’s song, Habits by Maria Mena, is brought to you by Travis who recommended last week when I did my shout out on Facebook. It’s so simple but so beautiful. Really love the piano and the woman’s voice. It reminds me a little of Allison’s in A Fine Frenzy (one of my favorites!).

Hope you guys enjoy it!

And don’t forget that the Superfan Giveaway is up and running through Friday. 50 of you will win, and this is a no strings attached giveaway. Just my way of saying thank you for all you do to support me.

Hope you guys enjoy it. And don’t forget you can still claim your free limited edition A TEMPTATION OF ANGELS bookplate and bookmark by sending a copy or photo of your preorder receipt or order confirmation to prophecypress@aol.com. This giveaway ends at the end of the month so hurryyyy!

This week’s song is brought to you by JP, a reader who recommended it last week on Facebook. I love Imogen’s sound – it’s so restful and unique – but I hadn’t heard this one before. I especially love that slightly Celtic violin piece toward the end.

Huge thanks to friend and fellow author, Rhonda Helms, for reminding me how much I love Ray LaMontagne. For some reason, this one makes me long for hot summer nights, big glasses of lemonade, and slow dancing in bare feet. Such a beautiful song, an amazing voice, and something I hope everyone of you hears or feels during your lifetime.

Also, tomorrow is the last day to request free bookplates for yourself or to give as part of an extra-special book gift. If you have a reader on your list, a personalized bookplate makes a nice touch to any of the Prophecy books. This will be the last free giveaway for Prophecy bookplates so take advantage while you can!

I’m really digging this week’s song, recommended by one of my favorite readers, Dee. This one has a really unique, folk/gospel sound and the video is just too cool. One of the reasons I started Song of the Week was so we could all find new music, and I don’t think I would have found this one on my own.

Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did!

<3

Also, just a reminder that if you want a free bookplate to give away for the holidays, you have to send an email to prophecypress@aol.com with your address. PLEASE don’t leave your requests in comments here on the site, both to protect your privacy (address on the internet? NOES!) and because Rebekah is managing the bookplate requests through the prophecypress email address.

This weeks song was brought to you by Brandi Pudlio. I’ve never heard of this band and I’ve never heard this song, but it’s really beautiful.

Hope you guys enjoy it.

And keep those song recs coming to prophecypress@aol.com with “Song of the Week” in the Subject line.

Also, don’t forget that you can still get free signed bookplates for the holidays. They make a really nice addition to a book for the reader on your holiday list, and I’m happy to personalize them (for you or the recipient).

This week’s song, Mr. Know It All, was nominated by Krystal! I admit that I used to love a lot of Kelly’s songs, but I haven’t listened to her in awhile. I enjoyed this one. Hope you do too!

On another note, tomorrow I’ll be kicking off my annual holiday bookplate giveaway, so be sure to check back if you’d like to give a copy of one of the Prophecy books as a gift this holiday season. I’m happy to send you up to three bookplates personalized any way you’d like. It makes a thoughtful gift for the reader on your list!

I first found Manchester Orchestra about three years ago when I become a Brand New fanatic and realized a lot of people who liked BN on Myspace (Ha! Remember Myspace?!) also liked Manchester Orchestra.

But I admit that I forget about MO sometimes, so I’m glad Shelley Koon suggested this song. I haven’t heard it yet, and it reminded me how much I love this band.

Thanks, Shelley! And please keep the Song of the Week recs coming by sending an email to prophecypress@aol.com with “Song of the Week” in the Subject line.Even if I don’t choose your song that week, when I have time, I go back and choose from old submissions.

So I was super excited yesterday to unveil the Prophecy of the Sisters Original Score now available on Itunes and Amazon. I thought it would be a great topic for TNW, because music is such a huge factor in my writing and my life.

I discovered a long time ago that writing to music really helped set the mood for my writing. Film scores, in particular, are very atmospheric and typically don’t have lyrics (I know some people can write to lyrics, but I can’t), so I’ve long been a fan if using them while I write.

One of the very first things I do when I start a new project is to choose a score that fits the mood I’m trying to create in my new book. Sometimes it takes awhile, but I’ve learned that it’s better to take the time to find the right music in the very beginning. Then I’m set!

Following are my favorite scores for writing. Share yours in the Comments!

Batman Begins – a quiet but very emotional, tense score by Hans Zimmer. He’s the man.

The Dark Knight – Zimmer used Batman Begins as a jumping off point for this one, but TDK is WAY darker and more edgy. It’s got some truly disturbing sounds and sequences. one of the most inventive film scores of all time.

The Village- quiet with a lot of classical violin. I wrote Prophecy of the Sisters to this one.

The Lord of the Rings (all) – sweeping, epic fantasyesque music. I used these to write Guardian of the Gate. Great for a high fantasy-type setting.

Legion – questionable movie but the soundtrack’s good for setting the mood in a dark urban fantasy. Plus, there’s some chanting. I like chanting.

Batman Arkham Asylum – yes, this is a video game score, but the line between film and video game music has really blurred with lots of highly-regarded film score composers now making music for video games. This is one of the game scores that most closely resembles a film score.

The Ring – creepy but not intrusive. I admit that I sometimes look over my shoulder when writing to this one. It’s the score I chose for the book I’m writing now.

What about you? What kind of music, if any, do you like to have in the background when you write?

As many of you know, my son, Kenneth, is an aspiring film score composer. He’s a wonderful piano player, but his real gift is in composing original music.

Kenneth and I started working together in 2009 when he approached me with the idea of creating a score for Prophecy of the Sisters. I didn’t get it at first. I thought scores were just for movies (and at the time, they WERE). It turns out, Kenneth was ahead of the curve (which isn’t a surprise, because he always has brilliant ideas for media, the selling of books, etc.). More and more, we’re hearing about publishing and other companies working to make the reading experience more multi-media.

For years, we’ve been receiving requests for Kenneth’s music on Itunes, but for a long time, we weren’t sure if or how the music might be used in the marketing of the books by Little Brown, so we held off.

Then, we’d planned to release it with the first of three planned Prophecy Novellas. I’d originally planned to have the first Prophecy Novella, Whisper of Souls, released by October 1st. Whisper of Souls is a 20,000 word novella told from the point-of-view of Adelaide, Lia and Alice’s mother, just before her death. However, I’m working out some distribution details at the moment and don’t have a firm release date.

So the wait for the music is officially over!

Kenneth and I have been working for some time to bring you his music for download on Itunes and Amazon and it’s finally here. It’s been remastered because, believe it or not, those early recordings, including the one you hear in the the Prophecy of the Sisters trailer, were done on a tiny device in our basement that picked up all kinds of noise!

As Kenneth has grown as a composer, so too has the quality of his equipment. Now, in addition to his piano, he had a keyboard that hooks right into his computer and some very high-tech software with original recordings for strings, horns, percussion, etc. He wanted to make sure the quality was sound, so he remixed the original Prophecy songs using the new equipment.

The result is something I’m so proud of, both professionally and personally. It’s been amazing to hear an entire score develop around my story. More than that, it’s been truly awesome to see Kenneth’s growth as a composer and artist.

And let me say that if you like the Prophecy music, wait until you hear the under-development score for A TEMPTATION OF ANGELS. I can totally see a movie when I listen to it!

Anyway, we’re unveiling the music Prophecy here for the first time ever! And to celebrate, I’m giving away a free Prophecy album download to two winners. All you have to do to win is Tweet or Facebook a link to either the Amazon or Itunes listing for the Album with some kind of statement spreading the word, i.e. “Kenneth Zink’s incredible instrumental score for the Prophecy of the Sisters Trilogy now available for download!” and include the link.

If you Tweet, @MichelleZink me! If you use Facebook, please tag Kenneth or me in your status update. This way we can help keep track of the entries. When you’re done, please leave a comment letting me know what you did. Sometimes Twitter doesn’t update me on stuff like it should.

Contest runs from now through Wednesday November 2nd at Midnight EST and you get an entry for each and every time you post. Contest is open to International entrants as long as you can accept a standard Itunes or Amazon MP3 gift.

This week’s song, X & Y, is by one of my favorite bands, Coldplay, and was nominated by Emily. I love all of Coldplay’s music, but Emily nominated this one because she said it reminded her of the Prophecy books and because she feels happy and peaceful when she listens to it.

I could totally use some happy and peaceful right now.

Hope you guys get some out of this, too.

Send your Song of the Week suggestion to prophecypress@aol.com with “Song of the Week” in the Subject line.

I’m giving credit to Laura for this week’s song. She nominated the Tyler Blackburn cover, but I had to put up the original by Golden State because I think I like it just a little bit better (though they’re both amazing).

Plus, this video is a little tribute to my home state, and even though I’ve become a total New Yorker and consider it home in every sense of the word (New York rules), I think there will always be some California girl in me.

If you’d like to make a Song of the Week recommendation, please send it to prophecypress@aol.com with “Song of the Week” in the Subject line.